Founded in April SK Biopharmaceuticals is a subsidiary of investment company SK Corp. SK

Under the contract, will work with Shanghai SK Biopharmaceuticals Medicilon to complete preclinical trials in the treatment of bipolar disorder in China over the next two years, and obtain a license to conduct clinical trials in China and the U.S. biopharmaceutical SK said the company will continue working with China after clinical trials, either by collaborating in the development of treatments, or by selling related technologies multinational drug manufacturers.

Medicilon Shanghai is a research and development organization that specializes in providing services for the development of new drugs.

The proposed material, developed independently by SK Biopharmaceuticals has demonstrated to be effective against manic depression and in animal tests, the company said.

According to the company, existing treatments for bipolar disorder are not effective for depression and manic, and require more than two weeks for the effects to show.

As such, the company hopes will allow the candidate material to enter the world market for depression and other mental disorders. According to the company, the value of global pharmaceutical market for depression and other conditions was 39 million last year.